Refrigerator gas operation help please |
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jato
Senior Member Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
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Topic: Refrigerator gas operation help please Posted: 18 Dec 2023 at 1:29pm |
WOW, Great find Gebaldwin1 !! I am seriously thinking about purchasing this kit to 'have on hand' as this is one of the first issues I have seen on older Dometic fridges. My first one lasted almost 10 years but ended up 'fatal' as it had an ammonia leak in one of the lines and found out there was no way to repair that. So my 'new' one is now 3+ years old, still young, but might be good to have either for myself or someone else who may end up with an issue like yours. Thanks for the link and for sharing. I love eBay way over Amazon as eBay almost always has free shipping, Amazon, you have to pay for it + Amazon's prices are almost always more expensive, at least for the items I shop for.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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Gebaldwin1
Newbie Joined: 14 May 2017 Location: CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 23 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 18 Dec 2023 at 10:30am |
I experienced this exact same problem earlier this year on my 7 year old 180. Did extensive testing of the whole system including hooking up a manometer to measure gas pressure while burning. Popping was loud and frequent enough to keep you awake at night. In the end, it was the burner nozzle. Look closely at the flame openings in the burner tube. See attached picture of mine. you can see how the metal has failed around the openings and "balled up" widening the flame opening area. This reduces the gas pressure in the tube leading to the flame failure and popping. Once I replaced it problem gone and refrigerator performed perfectly. Very difficult & expensive to find in the states but found them available via eBay from UK. Seller's name I used was guyuk10. My part number was:
Dometic/Electrolux Fridge Gas Burner Complete CBS2-DN65 289060497Not a difficult fix. Let me know if you have any questions. |
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GMan
Lil' Bumpy - RPod 180 |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6289 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 16 Dec 2023 at 9:16pm |
Electric can work, but only if an adequate battery capacity is there along with a generator or solar. That is what we have with the Grey Wolf--no propane. Given that propane never worked well for us, particularly in the summer heat, I don't miss it. I would take along a separate Free Piston Sterling Cooler which could reliably maintain cold temperatures for storing those things like meat which doesn't do well when the temperature in the refrigerator is higher than 40 degrees F. The compressor refrigerators for RVs are not like the ones in the house. They are much more energy efficient and able to reduce speed and energy use when not needed. They are not as good as propane for extended boondocking, but there are always trade-offs to be made.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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poohbill
Groupie Joined: 22 Aug 2019 Location: Idaho Online Status: Offline Posts: 87 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 16 Dec 2023 at 1:07pm |
We had no luck finding a three-way replacement for ours, then it settled back down and worked as usual the rest of this year, so I quit looking.
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2016 179 Gastropod
2017 Ridgeline |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 16 Dec 2023 at 10:13am |
Excellent points. The fridge is the only device that uses a very low flow flame, and is then more likely to be affected by little obstructions such as the gunk in the gas line.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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Pod People
Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1067 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 16 Dec 2023 at 8:02am |
thanks for the encouragement JATO. Yes, anything we put in will definitely operate on propane. some of the newer models are 3 way and some just 2 way(AC/propane) We almost always boondock, so propane is a necessity. Vann
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jato
Senior Member Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 16 Dec 2023 at 7:43am |
You are making a wise decision. Our dometic lasted 9.5 years, and were told the lifespan on these are 10 years, so unfortunately it seems like yours is near the end of life as well. It was replaced with the same model. Question do either of the units you are looking at work on propane as well as shore power? It seems like a lot of manufacturers are getting away from propane - which is not good - that is all we use - as we normally camp where no electric is available.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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Pod People
Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1067 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Dec 2023 at 9:58pm |
thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions. We are leaving Monday for a short 4 day trip, so I have put off any further work on the fridge for now. We will be staying in a US Park Service campground with power, so I will use 120v for the fridge. a potentially new development has come up. We talked to a mobile repair service and a dealer who we have used before. It sounds like it could be a control board issue. If so, we will spend several hundred diagnosing and repairing plus the parts cost. could be $5-600 or more-and it's still a 2015 model approaching 9 years old.Plus, we have had a lot of trouble with this unit over the full time that we have owned it(2017) So we started thinking about removing the microwave and putting in a new , larger(6 cu ft) refrigerator. Both Dometic and Norcold make a unit that we can make fit into the combined fridge/microwave cabinet. We never use the m/w as we normally boondock anyway. We can pull out the old fridge and adapt the cabinet and let a dealer purchase and install a new model. So......... anybody got experience doing this? or with Norcold? Again, thanks Vann
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jato
Senior Member Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Dec 2023 at 9:35pm |
+1 StephenH brings up a valid possibility. At 8 years of owing our 177 we had issues that weren't as severe as yours (no popping or burping) but it would turn off and go back on. The issue was a bunch of oily crud in the line between the regulator and the metal line that is at the front of the pod. Funny thing is that both the stove and furnace still functioned normally, only the fridge was funky. So the rubber line was removed and blown out as well as from the gas valve to the front of the pod where the rubber line screws in. The regulator had to be replaced (cost then (4 years ago - $ 18).
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6289 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 14 Dec 2023 at 10:48pm |
Did you also blow out the line between the refrigerator and the gas tanks? There may be some oily crud in the line that isn't between the valve and the burner. If you do that, be sure to have a bucket under the end of the gas line when you disconnect from the regulator and blow from the refrigerator end. If you have never done this, you might be surprised at the amount of oily liquid that gets blown out of the line.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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